Tigray Waits for Aid After Truce Agreed in Ethiopia’s Civil War

(Bloomberg) -- Aid has trickled into parts of Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region since federal and rebel forces declared a truce late last month after 17 months of fighting, but has only reached a tiny proportion of the millions of people who need it so far.

The World Food Programme dispatched 20 trucks carrying food and other supplies to Tigray on April 1, the first such convoy to enter the northern area in more than three months. The International Committee for the Red Cross, which had been flying in life-saving drugs into Tigray since January, dispatched its own convoy carrying food, medical and water-treatment supplies and other essentials to the area the following day. Ongoing security challenges, damaged infrastructure and fuel shortages have frustrated efforts to distribute the aid.

The WFP estimates 4.6 million people in Tigray are food insecure, and that its first 650-ton aid drop will feed about 30,000 of them for a month.

“This is just a drop in the ocean and will only serve a fraction of the needs,” the United Nations agency said in response to emailed questions on Tuesday. While the agency said it is prepared to continue providing assistance, it needs swift access to fuel and cash.

Read: The Misery Behind the Truce in Ethiopia's Civil War: QuickTake

Fighting erupted in Tigray when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an incursion in November 2020 after forces loyal to the state's ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front attacked a federal army base. The showdown followed months of tension stemming from Abiy's sidelining of the TPLF, which had been the nation's preeminent power broker for decades, and degenerated into a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Healthcare, electricity, banking and telecommunications have all been disrupted.

“Ultimately it is essential to restore basic services in the Tigray region after almost one-and-a-half years of interruption,” the WFP said.

Tigrayan leaders last week bemoaned the inadequacy of the aid flows, and accused the government of using the cessation in hostilities to intensify a blockade of Tigray. On Tuesday, the TPLF said it was withdrawing its forces from the neighboring Afar region and an immediate improvement in access to humanitarian assistance was expected, according to a statement read out on Tigray TV.

Selamawit Kassa, state minister at the communication ministry, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S.'s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, and his deputy, Payton Knopf, are due to arrive in Ethiopia on Wednesday for talks with government officials, humanitarian organizations and diplomats.

“Their visit continues U.S. efforts towards ceasing hostilities, unhindered humanitarian access, transparent investigations into human-rights abuses and violations by all actors, and a negotiated resolution to the conflict in Ethiopia,” the State Department said in a statement.

While hostilities in the north have eased since the truce was agreed on March 25, conflict has flared in the center of the country, with federal troops and regional forces from the Oromia region staging a month-long offensive against the Oromo Liberation Army -- a rebel group that the government has designated as a terrorist organization.